The Returned (French supernatural drama on Channel 4)

I don't think the finale was at all like just another zombie thing. For one thing, they were barely there at all. The whole point of the horde was to divide the town and the scene where they separated was pretty emotionally intense.

Totally unbothered by the lack of resolution as well, I want this to continue for a good few seasons.

Presumably the second series will introduce horde members as characters, which will go further back into the history of the town.

god this show is fantastic! i more than trust the creators to carry on into s2

One important thing from that link that DavidM posted - Mr Costa was the mayor at the time of the original dam failure, so he would have borne responsibility for those deaths. I do think he is a central character in this whole thing, cos he was also the twins' teacher. Maybe Victor stepped in front of the school bus thinking that Costa was on it too? Or at least in order to hurt those that Costa cared for?

Best bit in the last episode was Thomas telling that one cop to stay outside and not let anyone in, then closing the door on him and locking him out. Yeah, cheers guv!

yeah, some of the basic human behaviour is ludicrous - you sort of don't notice it due to the supernatural elements of the show distracting you.

Isn't that because a) Thomas is a dick and b) the plan was to gun all the Returned down once the blinds had closed?

for some reason i thought thomas was on the outside and he was telling the guy on the inside not to let anyone in? i guess i mis-saw

He was inside with Adele and her zombie foetus, undead and unborn

I didn't really get why they weren't demanding Serge (and his mother) join them - maybe because he's already enacted his revenge mission?

although thomas was on the inside i bet in his head he was listening to staind's "i'm on the outside".

I didn't really get why they weren't demanding Serge (and his mother) join them - maybe because he's already enacted his revenge mission?

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 11:55 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hmmm... maybe he's already "joined" the horde and is as such allowed to tootle off on his own a bit?

The idea that each of the returned has a revenge mission is an interesting one (not sure what Cecile's is, fwiw? Revenge on her sis for nicking the object of her affections?)

yeah when she said "there's one more" i thought she was talking about serge, not the zombie fetus

maybe they recruited him for a mission when they sucked him under the lake.

Here's a question: is it possible to terminate a zombie pregnancy?

this show = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QUVNcQdTxo

Struggling to remember if the people from the town know anything about Serge, other than Julie, Toni and Lena. He's mostly been away from the rest of the action and Toni kept pretty quiet about him.

Part of me is still wondering whether the two twins swapped places, and whether Camille is actually Lena and vice-versa. But I don't know what I'm basing that on.

Could be misremembering, but the police knew about him because they went up to their house to arrest him. Forget who it was that ID'd him in the first place.

xp I keep on thinking that as well, I'm sure the first ep left it open. But no evidence beyond that, and they've always managed to react convincingly to having their names called even in moments of extreme stress.

Part of me is still wondering whether the two twins swapped places, and whether Camille is actually Lena and vice-versa. But I don't know what I'm basing that on.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, July 30, 2013 8:31 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

when the twin 'reveal' happened at the end of that episode there were hints that they might have switched?

is there anything in the fact that we don't actually know what happened to lena after she saw the horde? just a quick skip to her showering at home.

Part of me is still wondering whether the two twins swapped places, and whether Camille is actually Lena and vice-versa. But I don't know what I'm basing that on.

i thought it was suggested in the bathroom scene of the last ep when the undead twin said: 'you called me camille...even though you know i'm not her'

What was Victor doing between appearing before the bus crashed and following Julie home? Four years is a long time for a young boy to be wandering around on his own.

I've been thinking about this and I remembered that Victor appeared again after the butterfly (and remember the species was Victorina stelenes) escaped from Mr Costa's framed collection, so could he have been hiding out as a butterfly?? That obviously links in with the old belief that lepidopterans are the reincarnated souls of the dead, but then you have Simon's escape from the police station where there was a suggestion that he and Lucy had temporarily transformed into butterflies. And there's the whole thing about being trapped behind glass (the butterfly collection, Simon in his cell, Victor in the car) and maybe that relates to people being trapped under water?

I wonder if Serge's revenge mission had anything to do with Toni, and now that Toni is dead, will Serge and Mammy Serge just disappear?

i just wanna say nobody does emotional cruelty on screen quite like the french

I think the reason the horde didn't want Tony is cos he's not part of their project, whatever the heck that is. The same weird mechanism has brought him back to life, but he and (to a lesser extent) Toni are outsiders and separate to the rest of the village and they've got their own story to work through (crazy mother thing, Serge stabbing women in their stomachs etc). Much like the dog that got stabbed and came back to life - not a part of the horde's plan but still under the same spell (which could suggest that maybe the horde haven't returned to exact their revenge, but maybe they find themselves in a position to take their revenge because they've been returned to this world? i.e. there's a deeper magical logic at work and what people do when they come back is perhaps incidental). Don't think that Serge returned to kill Toni, cos if anything he was trying to stop Toni dying at the end.

I think the zombies ignite the worst fears of their "victims". The nurse feared being reattacked, Toni out of guilt to see his brother come back for revenge, the little girl to see her mom die, Thomas to see adele bang her ex lover, etc

I wonder if Simon shot himself in a similar scenario to Toni's death? Except other suicides (Costa, the nosey neighbour lady) don't seem to have back, so maybe not.

If this is a revenge thing then there are any number of candidates to take Serge down.

Neighbor lady was technically a suicide, but it was obvious that Victor was pulling her strings, right?

some of the theories are really getting convoluted now imo.

Yep, just like with Toni xp

im gonna need to stay off this thread, this is like lost. maybe serge is the horse????

otm

Just caught the last two episodes of this. Not disappointed on the whole but it was strange how they ditched the feel of the rest of the series (small stories that looked to be about personal vendettas) and turned it into something else, something kind of zombieish. The "deportation" scene was gripping though, the strength of the characterisation that was built up really paid off imo.

Also loved the soundtrack - I listened to it a bunch earlier in the year even before I watched the show. The Goblinesque theme that played when Julie/Laure/Victor got stuck on the dam was very effective.

I actually lolled when he popped it in his mouth :)

― click here to start exploding (ledge), Wednesday, July 24, 2013 8:06 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Me too!

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10601220.Mystery_over_dead_animals_found_in_Worthing_lake/

this is coming to the sundance channel in america next week. fyi to any americans.

Oh cool, I might watch it again.

Starts tonight!

America you should watch the fuck out of this show.

I haven't read anything saying it would be, but I have this horrible fear that it might be dubbed. Because America.

its subtitled. exact same version that ran on channel 4

american remake in the works

America you should watch the fuck out of this show.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 31 October 2013 19:38 (Yesterday)

this.

american remake in the works

Are you talking about Resurrection on ABC? It's similar in one respect, but totally different in every other.

lol i just heard it was based on the returned but apparently it's a different the returned

there is an american remake of this in the works, tho

http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/NIKKI-FINKE-large.jpg

Can't wait for second season 2 even though I know that I will inevitably be disappointed (didn't much like the direction which the finale suggested)